Bootbaul



Juhe 30, A1925,

F. T. ROBERTS ET AL FOOTBALL Original Filed Ap'il 16 unirse s'rArasrA'reNr orrlca.

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TUCKAHOB, m

eppueaubn ma apra 1e, i923, semi n. maar. namen ma mi muessen ma semana Todi whom it may concern:

- Befit known that we, Fnac Tnoms and WILLIAM E. Realms citizens pf um unime states,- residing at Yonkers, 51m the county ofv Westchester and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in a Football, of which the followin is a full, clear, and exact descrlption, re erence being had to the accom- 10 panylng drawings. v The present invention relates to hollow rubber articles and lhas for its object the pro 'sion of adurable and satisfactory 'foot-p ball, soccer ball, or similar ball of rubber,

15 which shall have the appearance of the usual leather casing of .such an article, and which may be cheaply and economically manufactured by a simple and eilicient proc- 20 Hollow'rubber articles containing internal ressure, may be made by various eroeesses,

.ut to supply the demand for rub r footballs, it is necessary that they shall have the weight, appearance, balance, resiliency.'

25 and a surfaceas nearly similar to the usual football as practicable. YRubber when wet being intrinsieall more slippery than leather it is desira le in making the rubber surface, which shall have the appearance 39 of leather, that it shall be slightly rougher than if it were a true imitation of leat er, in'order that it may be readily gripped, and that slipping of the lingers when catching,

throwing, or passing the ball ma be 35 avoided. A foot ball made in accor ance with our invention has this characteristic. The means for carrying out our invention are hereinafter fully described and claimed. `They are also described in our 0 application, Serial No.' 632,227, iiled April 16, 1923, of which`the present ap lication is a division. Brie our copen ing application describes an claims an apparatus and method for making'the article set forth 45' herein. In the form illustrated this 'apparatus comprises a pair of cooperating mo ds in which two sheets of raw rubber stock are .seated by vacuum, and thereafter 'io'ued Yte form abiscuit. A valve "member 1s 5 bedded in one of the sheets of rubber, and the parts are vulcanized..

InA the drawings of this application, Eig.

80, 1924. Bel'll` F0. 738,827,

' lis a vplan view of -football illustrated'in Fi `prising a single-,section of tou h parent gores 8,

vsurface is asa matter of `cf the surface formed in the be seen that vwe ave provi a completed inllated 2 is a side elevation of the I; Fig. 3 is a sectional detail sho e valve in place within the rubber; and ig. 4 is an enlarged sectional detail illustrating the roughened surlfalof the ball.

` n e accompanying dra the football is illustrated 'as a spheric body comyet resilientrubber, the wallofwhic lis divided into gorcs byoovesformedyin the outer surface -thereo Y. This provides an appearance similar to the usual football. The grooves shown on the ball, designated 10 and 11, may be divided by transverse grooves 12 and 13 respectively. At the juncture of two 4of the apparent gores, the ball is given 'l0 the appearance of the lacing openings by grooves 7`which arci, looped to deiine the spgce usually occupied by rubber. inserts. pressions 9 may be used to indicate the 'T tball; F'

usual openings 'through which the lacin 7l extend. This lacing is represented by`r1 of rubber 14, connecting the a parent openings as shown. A somewhat lger groove 15 represents the space between e two a while integralawith the wa. of rubber is a tubular portion 1li forming a well for a valve, which is indicated generally at 17Fig. 3.

For convenience in illustration, the surface in Figs. 1 and 2 is sim ly indicated asA roughened er irregular we the enlarged view in Fig. 4 is intended to show more clearly at 18 the actual appearance ci the surface upon the wall portion of the ball. This surface generally appears to be a finish of leather, but the line grooves and han' depressions ef the natural leather are represented by projections, because the natural fact a reversal pattern. The manner ofhforming the surface is fully set forth 'in our .co'pending application heretoforereferred to.

I'rom the fore ing descri tion, it will ed an article which` .has a very close resemblance. to af leather. football, rovided with the usual rubber;.'blad der, w ile bein much cheaper. It will also be apparent t at the material a selected for the rubber is such that the ball will be resilient and can be colored substantially the color of tanned` plgskin, thus closely resembling the usual football.

Havingthus described our invention, we

claim:

- and having' its exterior Surface imitative of leather, and means for enabling the pres- Y sure within the ball to be varied selectively.

3. A` football having an integral rubber wall, adapted to contain internal pressure and having an imitation of leather gores n other characteristics of a leather foot- 4. A football of the character described, consisting of asingle hollow rubber article whose walls are resilient and tough and impervious and having minute projections and depressions formed to imitate leather.

5. A hollow rubber football of the color of tanned leather, finished on the exterior physically to imitate leather, and adapted to be closed to contain internal gaseous pre-xs# sure.

`6. A football yhaving an integralrubber wall adapted to contain internal pressure and having an imitation of the lacing characteristics of a leather football.

7. A hollow rubber football finished on the exterior physicallyto imitate a leather walls are resilient and impervious and have lan exterior surface correspondlng to the reverse of natural leather.

9.'A football having an integral rubber wall adapted to contain internal pressure .andhaving an imitation of leather gores and the lacingcharacteristics of-a leather football, and a valve surrounded by an internal reinforcement and vulcanized in lplace.

Signed at Tuckahoe, New Yor FRED THOMAS ROBERTS. WILLIAM E. ROBERTS. 

